India\'s Saudi Policy - P. R. Kumaraswamy, Md. Muddassir Quamar

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The growing Indian demands and Saudi resourcefulness are complemen-
tary and would be a key to any strategic partnership between the two. As
a result, since the oil crisis of 1973, energy supplies were the driving force
behind the Indo-Saudi ties and are unlikely to change despite India’s plans
for diversification of supplies. As reflected in Tables 9.2 and 9.3 and
Figs. 9.4 and 9.5, the Saudi share in India’s total energy imports has been
increasing and make up about one-fifth of its total crude imports.
This brings in the question of India’s energy security to the fore and its
growth story cannot be divorced from the energy security concerns. Since
the 1990s, its import dependency for crude oil has been growing (Table 9.4)
and it crossed the 75 per cent in 2005, and according to the Paris-based

Table 9.2 India’s energy imports from Saudi Arabia (in US$ million)

Year Oil imports

from Saudi

Arabia

Total oil

imports

Saudi share

in total oil

imports (%)

Imports from

Saudi Arabia

Share of oil in

imports from

Saudi Arabia

(%)

1996–97 1464.37 11464.58 12.77 1819.65 80.47

1997–98 1396.93 10,067.73 13.88 1720.17 81.20

1998–99 1570.33 8043.17 19.52 1831.47 85.74

1999–2000 2154.97 14,350.16 15.02 2419.24 89.07

2000–01 267.06 17,545.13 1.52 621.12 42.99

2001–02 171.75 15,771.74 1.08 463.99 37.01

2002–03 193.60 19,680.59 0.98 504.72 38.36

2003–04 301.36 22,700.20 1.32 737.77 40.85

2004–05 562.63 34,818.64 1.61 1301.15 43.24

2005–06 796.51 50,310.05 1.58 1632.34 48.79

2006–07 12,264.67 61,778.87 19.85 13,355.33 91.83

2007–08 17,755.00 86,384.04 20.55 19,470.30 91.19

2008–09 18,386.52 103,933.77 17.69 19,972.74 92.05

2009–10 15,390.04 96,321.12 15.98 17,097.57 90.01

2010–11 17,932.31 115,929.02 15.47 20,385.28 87.97

2011–12 28,302.37 172,753.93 16.38 31,817.70 88.95

2012–13 29,896.53 181,344.67 16.49 33,998.11 87.94

2013–14 32,781.57 181,382.59 18.07 36,403.65 90.05

2014–15 23,212.88 156,400.01 14.84 28,107.56 82.59

2015–16 15,177.91 96,953.06 15.65 20,321.33 74.69

2016–17 15,555.75 103,068.99 15.09 19,945.17 77.99

Source: Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India
Note: During 2000–06 the Government of India did not publish country-wise break of oil imports and
this showed an artificial dip in oil imports from Saudi Arabia

ENERGY, ECONOMICS AND EXPATRIATES